B: I-I told you, I've got... stuff... to do.

R: Ben.

B: Yes?

Public outcry make a difference.

Boycotting makes a difference.

Microsoft Office, like many companies in recent months, has slyly turned on an “opt-out” feature that scrapes your Word and Excel documents to train its internal AI systems. This setting is turned on by default, and you have to manually uncheck a box in order to opt out.

If you are a writer who uses MS Word to write any proprietary content (blog posts, novels, or any work you intend to protect with copyright and/or sell), you’re going to want to turn this feature off immediately.How to Turn off Word’s AI Access To Your Content

I won’t beat around the bush. Microsoft Office doesn’t make it easy to opt out of this new AI privacy agreement, as the feature is hidden through a series of popup menus in your settings:On a Windows computer, follow these steps to turn off “Connected Experiences”:

If you do not absolutely need Word (for work or school or a functionality that exists literally nowhere else), just stop using it.

For a 1:1 Word replacement, I'd always recommend LibreOffice. There's also a version of OpenOffice still around, though it updates at a slower pace.

If you're a fiction writer and would like to switch to a dedicated novel writing software, the free options tend to be a bit limited. However, there is SmartEdit Writer, which looks a lit like a slimmed-down Scrivener (which is pretty much the writing app, but has a one-time cost).

My sister and I’s new short film “Please Hang Up” is live for funding on indiegogo! If you yourself can’t support, please share this around and get as many eyes on it as you can! If you like Severance and time looping this will be perfect for you!

After the Throne Room, Rey and Ben pretend nothing happened. If only their dreams would leave them be.

All the things that never happened in the year between The Last Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker. An interlude to my upcoming post-TRoS comic.

when lenore dove comes to me now, she’s not angry or dying (…). she’s grown older with me, her face etched with fine lines, her hair touched with gray. like she’s been living her life beside me as the years passed, instead of lying in her grave. still so rare and radiant.

He cannot stay away forever.